Men who shone laser into aircraft cockpits sentenced

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Three men who shone a laser into the cockpit of three planes have been sentenced.

Alex Parker, 19, was sentenced to 7 months in jail and Craig Appleby, 20, and Luke Walters, 21 were sentenced to five months.

Anyone who aims a laser at planes coming in to land will get a custodial sentence. The danger of pointing a laser at planes coming to land is obvious, pilots risk being dazzled endangering the crew and passengers.

Three men are being sentenced at Leicester Crown Court this afternoon after a laser pen was deliberately shone into the cockpits of three aircraft.

It happened in February last year as two passenger flights and a cargo flight were coming in to land at East Midlands Airport.

Alex Parker, 19, Craig Appleby, 20, and Luke Walters, 21, all from Loughborough, have admitted a charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft by recklessly acting in a manner likely to endanger aircraft.